Diamond Jubilee! 12 fun Queen facts.

When we read the Queen eats Special K for breakfast, we couldn’t help but think she’s a little bit like the rest of us. But then we found out Lizzie has never ever worn a pair of jeans and we realised our lives couldn’t be further apart.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee started today – it’s a four days of celebrations to mark her 60th year on the throne. Over the next few days, her reign will be celebrated with street parties, concerts and river pageants.

Through all the coverage, we’ve found out some interesting facts we never knew about the the Queen, which we wanted to share with you. Take a look.

1. The Queen has a member of staff with the same shoe size who is responsible for ‘wearing in’ one’s royal footwear. Given how much she gets around, she doesn’t have the luxury of getting blisters from new shoes.

2. The Queen’s outfits, each and every one, are given names so they can be easily sorted and so her assistants know which one is needed on any given day.

3. Australian girl guides gave the Queen the ingredients which would make her wedding cake.

4. She once demoted a footman for giving her corgis whiskey.

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5. She collected clothing coupons for her wedding dress in keeping with the spirit of post-war austerity.

6. The Queen is responsible for a new breed of dog after one of her corgis mated with a dachshund owned by her sister Princess Margaret.

7. The Queen sent an email before most of us … in 1976 at a British military base.

8. There have been 12 US Presidents during her reign. She also has held, and holds, regular briefings with British Prime Ministers (on a Tuesday night). There have been 12 of those, too, during her reign. Tony Blair was the first to be born during the Queen’s tenure.

9. The Queen has received more than 3.5 million items of correspondence in 60 years.

10. Thanks to a really old law, the Queen owns all the wild ‘mute’ swans in Britain though she rarely makes use of them.